


Even the strongest man

by 3White_Mage3



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-06
Packaged: 2017-12-31 16:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3White_Mage3/pseuds/3White_Mage3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson understood and sometimes reveled in the fact that his one and only superpower was the unparalleled ability to appear unassuming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even the strongest man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Saral_Hylor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saral_Hylor/gifts).



> This tiny piece is gifted to my friend, Saral_Hylor. A person of great talent and considerable angst.  
> A guiding light.
> 
> Written and posted too hastily, but written with passion and purpose. 
> 
> The Phil/Clint pairing is one of my favorites. These two are perfect together.

Phil Coulson understood and sometimes reveled in the fact that his one and only superpower was the unparalleled ability to appear unassuming. To become one with the wallpaper. At 45, he had long ago become accustomed to people under-estimating him and he had learned to use being overlooked to his advantage. The evidence was written in an extensive line of enemies taken down and a history of successful missions and team leadership.

Having everyone's Golden Boy, a publicly recognized Avenger, the love of his life, and, in Phil's eyes, the most gorgeous man alive, as his husband was the accomplishment of a lifetime. How average could he be when he had a commitment from this superb, incomparable man to share his life forever? How many risks had he had to take and how many demons had he had to overcome to reach this point? He knew Clint had made a similar personal journey to get there with him.

He knew they completed each other. Phil was strong in those areas where Clint was self-admittedly weak. Clint filled in those holes that Phil sometimes found inside himself. Phil lent strength when Clint needed it and other times Clint repaid it in spades. They both knew that together they were by far more than the sum of their individual parts. They were happy and Phil knew he was fulfilled as a person and as a professional.

That day two years ago when he and Clint stood before God and a group of their closest friends and committed themselves to each other for eternity was the best day of Phil's life, and he knew and wholeheartedly trusted that his archer husband felt the same way.

What Phil had never reckoned on -- how could he foresee it when his entire life had been spent as wallpaper, always somewhere in the background? -- was the insidious, grinding toll of the public eye as the Avengers became more and more a focus of attention, more and more the great hope of first America and increasingly the world for a better, safer future. Phil knew and respected his place as the central pillar of the team, the rock that held the others, with all their divergent personalities and quirks, together. More importantly, he knew he was the foundation of trust and solidity which Clint needed so badly, the base which allowed his husband to excel. He had never doubted himself. And at the peak of his career and with a marriage he had long fantasized of but had never dared hope for, why would he start now?

But it was that grind that was beginning to erode a lifetime of learned self-respect and long-built-confidence. The talk shows his husband appeared on as part of his commitments to his team and to SHIELD. The neverending pr events. The one-after-the-other social events that reflected New York Society's obsession with fundraisers for worthy causes. The endless press conferences where Clint, the Golden Boy, was always being asked questions which were far too personal and had nothing to do with his work as an Avenger. The other Avengers, who were also always on stage in the center spotlight along with Clint, never in the background like he was, got off lightly, it seemed to Phil. Only his Clint, his HUSBAND, was subjected to those probing questions about his personal life, whether he was dating and, if so, whom, or how true it was that he had last been seen on a beach in Costa Rica with that young Aussie actor from Pacific Rim. 

He and Clint had long ago agreed that they would never deny their relationship. After so many years of struggling individually and as a couple to get to this place, they celebrated it. Both were far too comfortable with themselves and every aspect of their hard-fought lives to take that approach to something they had both wanted and waited for for long years. A togetherness which, if both were honest with themselves, each had at certain times given up hope of ever finding. Phil never took his wedding band from his finger and Clint only did on the most difficult of missions, only the ones which necessitated it, and then the band hung around his neck on a chain. Neither hesitated to hold hands on their long walks in Central Park and anyone who truly looked at them at their quiet dinners out some evenings could discern their togetherness. To those who paid attention, took a close enough look, they could always be seen at those damnable but necessary social events standing close enough so that their shoulders remained in contact. Those same parties where so many women and far too many men would, one after other, make a run at Clint, the Golden Boy, even as Phil stood by his side with a subtle, confident smile etched onto his face. Clint was always polite in these situations, and if the man -- men seemed to be the most aggressive for some reason -- persisted, would always reach his left hand up and rest it on his husband's shoulder until such time as his pursuer gave up or Phil's scowl was sufficiently daunting enough to drive that person off for easier pickings.

So it was a bolt out of the blue when he reacted the way he did at the red carpet event at Rockefeller Center. Nothing about the event or the situation was out of the ordinary. As usual the entire Avengers team was lined up for a photo op with Clint to Phil's right as always. The team was taking questions, as they always did, from the press corps, many of whom seemed to Phil to be focusing their cameras and questions on their Golden Boy. Nothing about the particular question or the reporter who asked it was out of the ordinary, but for whatever reason the stock question of "Can you tell us who you are dating, Clint?" was the proverbial straw, the match to the flame. And the man in the background, the perennial wallpaper, everyone's pillar of certainty and reasonableness, had had enough. Here he was, standing next to his husband and they were both wearing GODDAMMNED MATCHING WEDDING BANDS!!! Both rings were specially designed and unique, each was a white gold band with a strip of platinum running through the center. Absolutely identifical. What the fuck was wrong with these people?

Even a strong man can reach the breaking point. 

As the pressure in his ears built to bursting and as Phil struggled -- for the first time in years -- to stop himself from lurching into the foreground, into the spotlight he shunnned at all times, Clint reached across with his left hand, grabbed Phil's, and with their hands clasped, showed the reporter, the assembled cameras, and the world, the rings. The archer's response was delivered in his usual measured tone, "This man, my husband. For many years now and for all time."

Phil chuckled to himself, imagining tomorrow's headlines around the world. 

 


End file.
